sâmbătă, 14 februarie 2009

Why I’m Anti-Valentine’s Day

Without fail, every year on February 14th something has gone horribly wrong in my love life. Last year, the girl I was dating was hysterical when I gave her a bouquet of daisies instead of roses. The year before that, I made a card for the girl I had a crush on, and she tossed it in the garbage. This year, however, I’m single – but somehow, that isn’t acceptable either.

Valentine’s Day is all about unrealistic expectations. The more you hype something up, the more likely it is that something will go wrong. Your Valentine’s Day dinner might be cold, your date could be late, and you might not get the exact ring you wanted – but so what? Shouldn’t we consider ourselves fortunate if we have a dinner, a date, or a gift? Rather than giving us an opportunity to appreciate our loved ones, Valentine’s Day is merely a social obligation that makes us feel guilty if we don’t participate.

Those of us who choose not to celebrate Valentine’s Day are basically social lepers. That’s probably why 15 percent of people send flowers to themselves to avoid embarrassment. It sounds pathetic, but for many people, having a relationship is a status symbol. “Being single is cause for as much mortification as a bad dress on the red carpet,” said relationship blog The Frisky.Even if you’re like me and you don’t care about V-Day, there is still a lot of pressure out there to find love.

We shouldn’t buy flowers or candy for the person we’re in love or in like with just because we feel obligated. To me, going out to dinner just because it’s Valentine’s Day isn’t caring, it’s conforming. It’s not as special if the rest of the world is doing it too. Instead of showing our love on one day, we should show it every day in a way that we feel comfortable with. Love isn’t an obligation, and we should never treat it that way.